A soda ban? Really?

I've heard about this ban before and thought it idiotic when it was just a proposal and now an approved one.  How many idiots does it take to pass a bill? How many do we have in office?  Americans have enough restrictions on their lives that shouldn't be in place. What in the world is the justification behind telling us what size soda we can buy somewhere? In case you were wondering I am also against an increased tax on soda and on "sin" foods.  If my money is paying for medical insurance on myself, and you are mandating I have health insurance, then what business is it of yours what I eat or drink?  Now, to clarify, I hardly drink soda, and I don't usually eat much sugar or junk food. So this isn't about my "personal freedom" the way you might think. It's about Americans sitting back and letting the proverbial snare tighten around our necks.  Incrementally it gets tighter and tighter and before you know it and well after you can stop it your freedoms are dead.  Keep close watch is all I am saying. And fight for your rights. No matter how trivial a matter you might think it is.  An avalanche started as a snowflake.

Get over it already....

There is a woman here at work who has not spoken a word to me since July of 2011.  She sits one cube across and one cube down from me.  She passes me numerous times a day.  And when she does she avoids eye contact if possible and if we do make eye contact she looks away as quickly as possible.  We used to talk. We have known each other for quite a long while.  She has always been someone that I limited my time with for various reasons, but I am a social person and will talk to someone if they are in front of me.  In July she sent me a picture of a cake that she wanted me to make.  I do cakes and baked goods as a side business sometimes.  And it was one of the ugliest cakes I have ever seen, with a cat made out of a poptart on top.  I tried to be nice and told her I wouldnt be able to do it. She asked me if I was saying I couldn't or that I wouldn't.  I was honest and told her I wouldn't do it.  I take great pride in my work and would not want anyone to associate my name with the work.  She told me I didnt have to like it I just had to do it.  I told her again that I refuse to do work that I can't stand behind.  She has not spoken to me since.  I am not the only person she doesnt talk to. I am one of the lucky ones however that knows WHY she isn't talking to me. There are random people who do not even know why she doesnt speak to them.  If it were just me I might take it personally. At this point I smile when I see her and try not to let her presence deter me from my path, whichever direction I am taking at the time.  If anything I feel sorry for her. If you have nothing better going on in your life that you can hold a grudge for so long over something so silly, how sad is your life?

It's not your fault?

Sometimes I dont know what to put on here. I have thoughts going through my head all the time but for some reason once I decided to start putting them on paper they went away.  I did hear something today that set me off.  It was something along the lines of "It's not my fault."  It was made in reference to the financial situation someone was in.  Don't get me wrong, I get that things happen. Life throws curveballs. You can lose your job etc.  The problem comes when I hear that there are no jobs out there.  Omaha is full of jobs.  There are companies hiring all the time.  Job fairs run rampant.  I can hardly go to a store or a restaurant where this not an advertisement that they need help.  So the real problem is that there aren't enough jobs out there that someone feels are good enough for them or that they would "like" to have.  There is a big difference between the two.  If you have responsibilities you should be willing to do what needs to be done, until such time that maybe you can find that job that you "want".  Instead I see people living on unemployment for a really long time. They move back in with family and don't carry their own weight.  They bounce checks and sleep until noon and then whine about their situation to other people.  And then I see the worst part of it all.  The people they are talking to give them sympathy.  NO!  Tell them what they need to hear and hope they make their life better.  Stop holding their hand and stop making excuses for them.  Don't let them live on your couch or in your basement indefinitely.  Start making them take responsibility so they learn how to stand on their own.  They will thank you for it someday. 

Stop blaming the object

I am not a political person. So this is not a political rant. It does address the whole gun issue however.  There has been a trend in recent years in America.  Maybe across the world. I can't speak to what I don't know so I will stick close to home.  We like to demonize objects.  We do it to food, alcohol, guns, drugs.  It is so much easier to blame someone than to accept blame.  And it is "politically incorrect" to tell others they are to blame for their own actions. Since I don't care about being incorrect let me say it. It's your fault. It's their fault.  Whoever is abusing alcohol, abusing drugs, using food as a crutch or using a gun for violence, it is THEIR fault. NOT the objects fault.  The more we allow people to not take responsibility for their actions in this country the more we are inviting bad things to happen.  We are allowing for higher rates of obesity. Because it isn't the persons fault who is eating the food right? It's the manufacturers fault. It's the advertisers fault. It is the store or restaurants fault. Let's sue McDonalds because their food made me fat.  It isn't my fault I drove down there, ordered and paid for the food and ate it. It's their fault for making it and selling it to me.  Does that make sense to you? How about alcohol? People have been drinking some form of alcohol since before time. Other countries in the world don't restrict its use to certain age groups or have "dry" counties.  Why do we? Because it is the alcohols fault.  It's the alcohols fault we drink to excess. It's the alcohols fault that we drive drunk and get into fights.  It isn't our fault right? It's addictive. It's bad.  Same with drugs. Now on that note I don't condone drugs at all so please don't misunderstand.  But to me it is a choice you make every time you pick it up.  But instead we blame the drugs.  And now it's guns.  Do I believe any regular person needs a semi-automatic weapon or a machine gun? No way. Do I believe that we all have a right to have a gun too defend ourselves? Most definitely.  And I dont believe restricting gun access will solve crime problems because most criminals don't go through the "proper" channels to get their weapons.  Guess what? A gun can't shoot itself.   It takes a person to do that. And if that person has issues then let's call a spade a spade.  It isn't a cars fault someone hits someone else and it isn't a guns fault someone chooses to shoot someone else with it.  Until we start to take responsibility, lay blame where it belongs, and call people out on the BS this country will continue to deteriorate. That is why I call them like I see them and let the chips fall where they may.

Passing the buck

I have a good job for a really good company. Almost a cake job really.  So I try not to complain about triviality.  Sometimes though things happen, or things DON'T happen and that pushes me to the end of my patience.  Because of that, I might have gotten myself in trouble with my Manager yesterday.  Before the holidays a notice went out that our different teams inside our department were to put together a power point presentation to share with the other teams. High level overview of what we did on a daily/weekly basis.  My Manager asked if I wanted to take it on. No problem, I can do that. One major problem however is I am a PowerPoint for Dummies candidate.  One of my weaknesses that I admit to. Technology and I are not friends. But I used the template he sent over. Put down our basic duties and policies we covered etc and sent it over for Review. NOT a final product, just a "hey this is what I have right now am I on the right path" kind of deal. So I hear nothing. For days. Finally I go to him and say "Hey, whats going on." Because I am supposed to  present this power point in 3 hours and I haven't seen it.  So he shows me what the other team sent. And it goes WAY above a "high level" overview. So he has been tweaking ours to match theirs. And he still wasnt done. But he would get it to me before the presentation. Ok? Luckily the meeting got cancelled and pushed back a week. Great! Now I have time to prepare. So each day goes by and no powerpoint. I keep asking and get "I am working on it, we will all get together to discuss it in plenty of time, blah blah." And no power point. Until  less than two hours before the meeting where I am supposed to present. And I get an email asking if I am comfortable presenting it. To which I respond "No." But in a lot more words.  Then he gets that I am frustrated and asks me to let him have it. So I do. To which I get back a defense about how bad the powerpoint was that I submitted in the first place.  Something he and I had discussed on my last evaluation and put on my individual developement plan.  Maybe he needs to evaluate his own Individual Developement Plan for next year.........

The "Inconveniency" of being pregnant

So,  I've been pregnant a couple of times. And I know it's a challenge and that it can be uncomfortable towards the end and all that jazz.  I remember the days.  But usually a pregnancy is self-induced. Or the woman is involved in getting that way in some way shape or form. Not necessarily on purpose but most likely she participated in the baby making. When we are uncomfortable we tend to whine.  Whining is what it is. It won't ever go away as long as we are human. That isn't what I am ranting about today though it does annoy me no end.  What frustrates me is when I hear a pregnant woman talking about "scheduling a babies birth around a specific day, or a week early.  They say "I just don't want to be pregnant anymore." I have a serious problem with "scheduling" a birth or induction on their own timetables because they don't want to wait for nature to take it's course.   A baby isn't something you "order" to be delivered on your own time frame. Nature has these funny things called hormones that are released when a baby is "done" if you will.  Once the lungs, heart, etc are full formed natures timer goes off. Most of the time nature knows best. Sometimes I get that signals get lost or there is some concern over the health and well being of mother, baby, or both.  But if you are honest about it most women do it for convenience.  Now, I am NOT a doctor. I do have a brain that is pretty good at putting two and two together though.  How many of these "scheduled" babies end up with health issues? Breathing problems, weak immune systems down the line etc?  No one wants to point fingers and say "hey do you think maybe...."  Why not? Because people get mad.  It couldn't possibly be my fault something is wrong with my babies health.  It is the daycare's fault (which I wont even get started there today) or the school, or the other sick kids.  How about we stop "scheduling" natural events for our own convenience and let nature take it's course a little more often.  You got pregnant.  Deal with it! 

I'm Back!!

Wow it's been almost four years since I posted on here. That is terrible.  Not that I haven't had plenty go through my mind, I just went through a period where for whatever reason I forgot I have an outlet.  Since I originally started this blog I've gone through some changes. A divorce, and a marriage. I've gotten my real estate license and changed jobs at the company I work for.  And I still have this goal in mind to either make enough money that I dont have to "work" for anyone anymore or to be able to make enough money doing something else on the side that I don't have to mess with having an employer.  I can travel and work while I am traveling and just enjoy my life.  I don't want to work for someone else anymore, or play by their rules.  I don't want to have to watch what I say or do in case it rubs someone else the wrong way. Very seldom am I actually trying to be mean or rude. I see something, I call it out, and that usually lands me in trouble. Unless I am with someone like my daughter that just sees it for what it is and thinks it is funny.    Today there are two things on my mind. The first, the radio talk show I listen to in the morning. I love the show, don't get me wrong.  But one of the hosts on there is touting a new weight loss plan. Today she said "I've tried everything to lose weight and I just couldn't do these past six years" and then went on to talk about how this new one is so great.  Two years ago she was on a regular weight loss plan and working out at Curves and lost a bunch of weight. How do I know this? Because two years ago it is all she talked about and the radio had the commercials on constantly.  So you lost weight, got lazy and gained it back. Then didn't want to do anything about it? Now you get a vitamin b-12 shot in the butt once a week and follow a "diet" and you are dropping weight.  Good for you.  But don't act like you can't lose weight and this is a miracle cure.  My next rant is about the Real Estate industry.  Granted I am new with my first listing.  But when I send an inquiry to another agent on a property and get a rude response telling me to make the calls myself to get the information that she should have readily available on the property, AND it takes 24 hours to get back to me on a simple question I find that a little telling.  No wonder people say Customer Service is dead in the Real Estate Industry. How sad.   Anyway! I can promise I will be back with more so bring your friends and tell people to follow me if you like reading what I post. 

Em